RED ARMY

FILM REVIEW

Fascinating stuff.

Global politics and sport make for unlikely bedfellows in this engaging documentary on the undefeated Russian Olympic Ice Hockey team of 1980. From Ronald Reagan’s opening salvo to the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Gabe Polsky’s film is like a microcosm of life during the Cold War. The legendary Slava Fetisov makes for a delightfully truculent interviewee (kicking off proceedings by giving Polsky the finger). His refusal to be painted as a victim, in spite of appalling treatment at the hands of his coach, country and fellow teammates, is commendable.

Red Army is worth watching for the archival footage and none-more-Eighties video indents alone, and the off-guard moments between set-ups often reveal more than the interviews proper. An interest in Ice Hockey is unnecessary. Fascinating stuff.